The Book:
Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson
Published March 23rd 2021 by William Morrow
Date read: August 18, 2021
The Characters:
Abigail and her new husband Bruce
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
A bride’s dream honeymoon becomes a nightmare when a man with whom she’s had a regrettable one-night stand shows up in this psychological thriller from the author of Eight Perfect Murders.
Abigail Baskin never thought she’d fall in love with a millionaire. Then she met Bruce Lamb. But right before the wedding, Abigail has a drunken one-night stand on her bachelorette weekend. She puts the incident—and the sexy guy who wouldn’t give her his real name—out of her mind, and now believes she wants to be with Bruce for the rest of her life.
Then the mysterious stranger suddenly appears—and Abigail’s future life and happiness are turned upside down. He insists that their passionate night was the beginning of something special and he’s tracked her down to prove it.
Does she tell Bruce and ruin their idyllic honeymoon—and possibly their marriage? Or should she handle this psychopathic stalker on her own? To make the situation worse, strange things begin to happen. She sees a terrified woman in the night shadows, and no one at the resort seems to believe anything is amiss… including her perfect new husband.
The Twist:
Abigail’s husband Bruce was a member of a cult that owned the island. They routinely would trap women into cheating on them and then punish them for their sins. He had hired Scott/Eric to hit on Abigail and to sleep with her. Many of the other members’ wives had also disappeared. Jill was also there to be punished.
The Ending:
Alec snapped and killed Jill–he was just supposed to scare her. Abigail managed to escape and expose the cult, after killing Bruce in their bed. Chad went to jail.
The Review:
I bought this book at Godfather’s Books in Astoria, Oregon at the very beginning of my road trip. I’m a big fan of Peter Swanson but hadn’t read this one yet, and I thought the cover perfectly fit the foggy vibe of the Oregon coast!
Every Vow You Break was a perfectly entertaining read for my road trip. One of my favorite parts was the description of the island Abigail was honeymooning on. I loved reading this while surrounded by fog in the back of my camper van. There’s a post of this awesome vibe on my Bookstagram!
I generally enjoy Swanson’s thrillers, but this one didn’t feel quite as well-crafted as the previous books I’ve read by him. I think a large part of it was that I’m never a fan of instant-love romances, and that carried over to my opinion on this thriller. The whole thing felt like a big “I told you so!” when Abigail began to regret getting married to someone she didn’t know well.
What did work really well for me was the stalker aspect, the creepy vibe of the resort, and the big twist which I won’t give away here. The ending felt a little abrupt–I would have liked to read more about the lasting effects these events had on Abigail.
Overall, a highly interesting read for those willing to suspend belief in the name of entertainment!
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Haha yes – marry someone you barely know and head to a remote island – what could go wrong? But by the end this one got SO out there. I just went with it, but I’ve definitely enjoyed his other books more.
Same, I really loved Before She Knew Him. This one was enjoyable but not my absolute favorite.